On August 23, 1767, Thomas Jefferson traveled to the town of Staunton, in Augusta County, to perform legal services regarding several cases. After leaving Staunton, and on his way to Bedford, he came across "the most sublime of Nature's works." He paid a local man to guide him to the magnificent structure up close. Once he arrived, he took out his memorandum book, and on the inside back cover, wrote the description of what seemed to be a natural bridge made from one rock of limestone, and he sketched it.
A small creek, called Cedar Creek, ran underneath the bridge,"being very rocky it is not rapid." "It is impossible for the emotions, arising from the sublime, to be felt beyond what they are...so beautiful an arch, so elevated, so light, and springing, as it were, up to heaven, the rapture of the spectator is really indescribable!"
After completing legal business at the Amherst, Orange, Culpeper, Frederick and Fauquier County seats, he returned to Monticello and began to take steps to purchase the property surrounding what he called, Natural Bridge. He purchased the land from King George III for 20 shillings, and received the patent for the 157-acre tract which included the geological marvel. At some point, he hoped to build a log cabin there and use it as a retreat.
When Thomas Jefferson first saw the limestone bridge on August 23, 1767, he took notes and later recorded his notes about the bridge in his Notes on the State of Virginia. On June 10, 1773, Jefferson paid the secretary of the colony at the surveyor general's office for a survey warrant and recorded it in his memorandum book. On July 5, 1774, a patent in the name of George III was issued to him.
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